Focus Area: Real World Applications

The Inter-American National Bank is an organization with branches throughout the world including the Caribbean. The role is to work with these countries to help stimulate economic growth through loans or grants. They collaborate with the country government and many of the local industries. One of their mandates is to stimulate innovation. They reached out to us at Basadur to provide some training for the 5 offices in their cluster which was prompted by prior training received in Jamaican and Trinidad. In this presentation we will discuss the journey they are on and the observations we found during this extensive training to build innovation capability in each country.

Glen Drummond

Challenge Mapping to uniquely win RFP’s

Day One | 10:30 PM – 12:00 AM | Studio 6

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What’s the only thing harder than selling these days? Buying. The research is in on the process of B2B purchasing – and it’s a pretty distressing picture overall. Increasingly, purchase decisions are the product of a committee. As the size of the committee grows, the prospects for conflict increase, and the prospects of arriving at any decision whatsoever (much less the best one) decline.

So what’s this got to do with challenge mapping? Well – one way to think about an RFP is less as “information” or “requirements” and more as the description of a situation begging for an illuminating interpretation. By viewing the RFP in that light, the seller responding to the RFP can create value for the buying committee – by organizing topics according to their place in a system of relationships (categorization, causality, adjacency, and perhaps polarity.)

Challenge mapping is useful for clarifying these kinds of relationships. So can it be used to design compelling solutions in RFP responses, and do so in a way that helps to mitigate the inherent challenges of buying committees? This presentation offers a qualified “Yes” to that question, based on the story of a successful close of an RFP competition at a price in the high six figures.

Focus Area: Integrations into Simplexity

Jacqueline Lloyd Smith

Integrating Simplexity with Play

Day One | 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM | Studio 7

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Using models to think in 3D is one of the brain’s most preferred ways of thinking. It leads to deeper insights and understanding. When we engage in building we give our brains a hand, allowing the brain to think in 3D (T. Newport). This 3D thinking allows participants to build better ideas and gain a greater understanding, while aligning objectives to strategically meet organizational, community, or business goals. The brain is always looking for a hand, and the hand is looking for a brain (S. Brown).

This workshop goes beyond flip charts and Post-it Notes and transports Simplexity from the wall to the tabletop, where models are constructed and deconstructed. This process allows for old narratives to be transformed into powerful new solutions. In this workshop you will not just hear how the Strategic Play® team has used Simplexity, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methods, and other creative activities to solve complex worldwide problems, you will build and experience the process for yourself. These are just some of the issues we have worked to address:

The effects of poverty, Land use in transition, The perception of safety (City of Surrey)

Human rights, Education reform, Care for the environment (The United Nations)

Product and service offerings (P&G, Simply Home, Home Depot, Hermes, and T.R. Price)

In this 90 minute, fast-moving breakout we will demonstrate how we weave together two powerful methodologies (Simplexity and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®) in a curated offering that drives results.

Jennifer Spear

Is that what you think? Uncover the power of the Profile in achieving team understanding of cognitive diversity

Day One | 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM | Studio 8

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When we try to solve complex problems with others we can be faced with multiple challenges. We often don’t agree on what the problem actually is or how we can move forward and address it.

One the most powerful tools for teams is the CPSP Profile. The Profile not only allows for a very quick understanding and acceptance of the Simplexity Process, it also creates an awareness of the cognitive diversity within the group and the benefits of that.

Most people assume that everyone likes to work and communicate the way they do. Often a big Ah Ha that occurs when debriefing the Profile is when they realize that not everyone approaches problems the same way they do. They start to recognize that there are different approaches and perspectives as well as the key process steps involved. This can be a powerful way to uncover assumptions that the group has not only about each other but also about the problem they are trying to solve.

Join your peers as we discuss the Power of the Profile

Focus Area: Simplexity Foundations

Focus Area: Real World Applications

Jim Campbell

Entrepreneurial Manufacturing: Linking innovation to execution

Day One | 2:15 – 3:45 PM | Studio 5

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Early in my career 30 years ago, as a young plant manager working for TRW, a leading global auto parts firm at the time, my manufacturing plant was “up against it”, and so was I. Competitive pressures from low cost countries were just beginning to emerge as automotive supply chains became global in nature and I found myself leading a concerted effort to try and save my plant. To crystalize the challenge, I understood the solution, with the higher wages common in North America, came down to determining “how might we do more with less?”. One key area of opportunity was in reducing our overhead costs. I had read about developing self-directed teams but had no idea how. After a lengthy search around the world I found a guy named Min Basadur right in my own backyard. He had a structured problem solving method called Simplexity. I met with him and immediately recognized immediately the link between effective, creative problem solving and improving performance and was sold. From there I worked with Min to infuse Simplexity into our organization and we were very successful.

At this point I decided I didn’t want to climb the corporate ladder and instead began to create small, nimble, high tech manufacturing firms, one after the other. By using Simplexity new opportunities have arisen in how I move my manufacturing company into the future. The broader challenge is we need manufacturing in North America and “How Might We make North America the hub of Manufacturing again?”

In this workshop we talk about the challenges/opportunities framed by Simplexity both in my personal experience and for the future:

How might we help our customers to share with us what they need help with?

One very effective approach to business development that I have found is to pose a simple question to a prospective new customer: “what is your worst nightmare?

How might we “re-shore” parts here in North American being made in China using innovative thinking?

How might we get automotive electrical and the great jobs it creates back into North America?

How Might I create an organization that is highly nimble and adept at problem solving?

Larry Crase | Nausherwan Akram | Mitzi Short

Building a thriving Simplexity consultancy

Day One | 2:15 – 3:45 PM | Studio 6

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Literally thousands of people have been exposed to the Simplexity System and one of the most asked questions is, “Can I really build a successful practice based on Simplexity system and if so how?” We believe the answer to that question is yes, however time, patience and creative thinking are the ingredients. In this 1.5 hour session we will provide you with the opportunity to meet 3 practitioners who are at various stages of their practice development process. We will share our approach, our learnings to date and give you an opportunity to ask your specific questions in a roundtable discussion.

Focus Area: Building a best-in class Simplexity practice

Focus Area: Integrations into Simplexity

Sally Brazier

Think like a designer: Simplexity’s role in the evolution of Design Thinking

Day One | 2:15 – 3:45 PM | Studio 7

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Find out the role Simplexity played in the development of design thinking. Simplexity can help you to think like a designer and take a different approach to business. Through this workshop you will discover how Simplexity integrates with design thinking and provides a framework for design management. We will explore the parallels and the practicalities then use Simplexity to apply it to your own challenges.

Robert Paris

Emerging knowledge of the brain and neuro leadership connections to Simplexity

Day One | 2:15 – 3:45 PM | Studio 8

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This one hour workshop presents fascinating information on the human brain based on neuro-research from the last decade and relates it to leadership. This interactive session will explore the operating principle of the brain as well as its social and emotional nature. The workshop’s focus is relating the above to leadership, innovation and Simplexity thinking. With respect to the Simplexity process, some thought-provoking ideas will be explored centered on ‘Action’ step 8 that will present brain-based evidence as to why excellent action plans often fail to deliver results and, more importantly, what can be done about it.

Focus Area: Real World Applications

You have heard of and seen the results achieved by Frito-Lay as they embraced and used the Simplexity Process to realize cost improvements while transforming their overall culture.

In a free-flowing conversation, Jim Jarratt will discuss examples of how the Simplexity language of “ How Might We”, and various Simplexity skills were successfully utilized at Frito-Lay.

Jim will also take you on a journey to other industries and companies whose language begins with,“You can’t do that.We are different”. Jim will discuss how the utilization of Simplexity innovation skills can overcome this inertia and solve real business problems.

Larry Crase

Driving successful implementation through Solution Documents

Day Two | 10:15 – 11:45 AM | Studio 6

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Have you ever asked the question “Why do we have difficulty implementing quality ideas?” As a Simplexity practitioner for over 30 years, I have asked the question many times and have developed an approach which appears to be working. This 1.5 hour breakout session explores this issue by:

Sharing and discussing a challenge map of this fuzzy situation

Discussing Solution Documents as an impactful approach

Providing overviews of 3 case studies to illustrate how the Solution Document is working

Providing an opportunity to practice developing a personal Solution Document on a key idea from the HMW conference that you are interested in implementing

Focus Area: Building a best-in class Simplexity practice

Focus Area: Integrations into Simplexity

Dr. Mike Goldsby & Dr. Rob Mathews

Design Centered Entrepreneurship

Day Two | 10:15 – 11:45 AM | Studio 7

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Dr. Rob Mathews, Director, Institute for Entrepreneurship & Free Enterprise, Ball State University, and Dr. Mike Goldsby, Chief Entrepreneurship Officer, Ball State University, will show you how Simplexity is a process that can help identify better problems to solve for your customers. The five steps help design the business concept and the last three steps make it a reality. The 8 steps encompass what entrepreneurs do when they bring an innovation into the world.

Richard Perez | Shannon Wagers

Strategy Building from the ground up with Challenge Mapping

Day One | 10:15 – 11:45 AM | Studio 8

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Join Shannon Wagers and Richard Perez from P&G’s GYM, for an interactive workshop showcasing case studies of applied Simplexity methods with real teams resulting in very satisfied customers with a Net Promoter Score of 95% (Would recommend to friend/colleague).

A Strategy can be viewed as a well-defined problem. The problem with many teams is that they want a “strategic plan” without understanding what this means, or even worse, how this might be created (Let’s hire McKinsey!)

Learn how to guide any team to create an impactful strategy from the ground up applying the Challenge Mapping tool informed by team insights and facts. This dynamic visualization of “How Might We” statements combined with “Why-What’s Stopping analysis” opens up individuals and organizations to critical thinking through immersive problem definition. This process creates powerful strategies to overcome the toughest challenges.

Select stories will be shared on how these strategies are making a difference in innovation and leadership.

Focus Area: Simplexity Foundations

Focus Area: Real World Applications

Tim Basadur

Developing university courses using Simplexity

Day Two | 2:15 – 3:45 PM | Studio 5

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I plan to engage participants to share how I use Simplexity to generate ideas for new courses and program opportunities, collaborate with different stakeholders – students, faculty colleagues, career services, and members of the school administration – to finalize the conceptualization of them, and then to plan and implement them in an environment averse to change.

I will engage participants in understanding how a new course is designed and taught, how new student-development events and programs are developed and implemented using Simplexity as the backbone with the requirement that students learn experientially.

In this session, we’ll explore the benefits of combing the powerful tools of Gallup’s Clifton StrengthsFinder and Basadur Simplexity Complex Problem Solving Process and its overlying Problem Solving Styles Profile. Perspective is a key ingredient in the Simplexity process, but are most people really in tune with their unique psychological talent perspectives? Combining StrengthsFinder with Simplexity empowers practitioners to confidently assert their unique perspectives–the very way in which they naturally think, feel, and behave–into the creative problem solving process. How Might We inject the power of psychological talent into problem solving process?

Focus Area: Building a best-in class Simplexity practice

Focus Area: Integrations into Simplexity

Sylvie Gélinas

Collective Intelligence: AI Simplexity application

Day Two | 2:45 – 3:15 PM | Studio 7

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Artificial intelligence is a buzz word these days, with good reason. Text, voice and vision recognition notably represent a huge business opportunity and this, in many fields: health, defense, marketing, logistics and so on.

Yet, even with the most advanced technology, scientists are generally agreeing – by no means can we even forecast the day when we will be able to delegate complex, contextualized, dynamic and increasingly critical decision making to intelligent systems. If technology is improving decision making efficiency and efficacy in systemic and well-defined processes, people are expected to remain on the long term at the heart of fundamental “sensemaking”.

The workshop will discuss on the role of people at the center of complex decision making, notably how individuals (HI) and groups (CI) present a unique and necessary contribution for addressing large and global challenges. It will also discuss how technology can lead to new opportunities for human beings to better think, collaborate and make efficient decision making as a new collective capacity, and the role of deliberate processes such as Simplexity to help achieve higher quality collaborative decision making.

Dr. Min Basadur | Richard Perez | Shannon Wagers

Einstein was right!… on Problem Definition…and Saving the World!

Day Two | 2:15 – 3:45 PM | Studio 8

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“If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution. “is a quote attributed to the late, great physicist Albert Einstein. Throughout our collective journey in Simplexity – we have found no other words to be so true. To be a master at Simplexity – the skill of Problem Definition is a critical key to success. Why? Because over two-thirds of the population is “wired” to jump to selecting solutions, diving into action and we have the data to prove it!

In an interactive session – we will share insights and stories throughout the business world and academia discussing the following:

Using Simplexity to empower/unleash teams with implementation and optimization bias resulting in better business outcomes

Using the Basadur profile scatter diagram as an insightful sales pitch to show the value of a Simplexity session to an organization

How to make yourself “indispensable” for organizations you work with, by using scatter diagram to pre-consult

The difference between a fuzzy situation and a well-defined problem statement

How to prevent your organization from jumping to solutions that don’t work.

How to enable your team to build on each other versus cancelling each other out.

Focus Area: Simplexity Foundations

Focus Area: Integrations into Simplexity

Dr. Peter Jones

Design Thinking with Simplexity: From profile to process

Day Three | 10:00 – 11:30 AM | Studio 7

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In this rapid workshop Peter will share how the familiar Simplexity model is used in a design charette. Each stage of the 8-step process promotes a different perspective and methods for engagement and design thinking, which are brought together to create and realize product/service concepts and rough prototypes. If you already know Simplexity, you will naturally learn how to extend to a full co-creation design process. If new to the methods, be prepared to be empowered.

Institutions, particularly nonprofit and governmental, benefit from strong stakeholder engagement which includes large doses of internal and external voices and buy-in. Ivy Tech Community College, the nation’s largest singly accredited community college system with more than 150,000 students and 19 campuses, is funded primarily by the State of Indiana. In 2016 the Indiana General Assembly enacted legislation requiring Ivy Tech to become more workforce aligned and agile in meeting employer needs as the Indiana economy rebounded. This session will explore the Organizational Restructure from 14 regions to 19 campuses (the first in 50 years) and new Strategic Plan of Ivy Tech, as well as the processes, thinking skills and tool utilized to engage state, industry/employer and philanthropic stakeholders, but also faculty, staff and students across more than 40 locations. A “first quarter” report will be shared on progress and “lessons learned” on change management and the role of Simplexity creative problem solving in supporting healthy organizational change.